Having been a performing musician, I always felt a little odd with the whole rock star thing.

I remember reading a Modern Drummer magazine interview with Stewart Copeland back in the '70s. The Police were starting their climb, and one of the questions asked of Copeland was how he was handling the fame that had come his way.

I can't recall the exact quote, but it was something along the lines of, “It's odd. People are in awe of me because I have a talent for hitting things in rhythm.”

One time after a Chaser show back in the '80s in Rugby, N.D., John, Bob and I were besieged by teen-aged autograph seekers. One kid wanted to know if I had any broken drumsticks or drumheads that I could give to him.

I distinctly recall looking at him and saying, “You know, when I get up tomorrow morning I'll put on a white shirt, white pants and an apron. I'm a cook at a buffet restaurant.”

“Yeah,” he said. “But you might be famous someday.”

From his mouth to no one's ears, evidently.

Those memories and others came back to me Sept. 22 when I got to meet the members of British heavy metal band Saxon.

I don't usually go for the meet-and-greet thing, but this time I couldn't resist.

I have been a fan of the band for decades, but never had the opportunity to see Saxon live. (I blame most of that on growing up in North Dakota.) A few years ago they were in Milwaukee, but I had taken my pa to a game at Lambeau Field. We probably could have made the show, but it would have been a long night. Especially for my dad.

Anyway, the guys in the band were great—just a bunch of blokes from England in town to play some music. They were humble and seemed genuinely interested to meet their fans and talk about music, the weather or any other nonsense.

A friend of mine, Jeremy Dumke, seems to run into musicians all the time. (He does attend A LOT of concerts.) He's got loads of photos of him with everyone from Paul Stanley to Slim Jim Phantom. If you don't know Jeremy, he can be kind of intimidating. Maybe all those musicians are just happy that all the 6-foot-6-inch tattooed Dumke wants is to shake their hand and get a picture, but Jeremy says the majority of them are glad to meet a fan.

Most of the artists I've met have been really cool. I've always tried to have the attitude of, “They're regular people who happen to play music for a living.”

If you treat them that way, they seem to enjoy that better than the hero worship thing.

There are still other musicians I would like to meet, but we'll have to see if it happens.

Have you met any musicians and how was the experience? Or are there any artists you would like to meet and how might you react?